Climate change will have serious effects on wildlife, a national group reported Wednesday. Here, a seagull chomps down a starfish in Monterey, Calif.

Written by

Doyle Rice
| USA Today

From birds in the Plains to bighorn sheep in California to caribou in Alaska and moose in Minnesota, a new study says animals are struggling to adapt to the new climate conditions caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which produces the carbon dioxide that warms the atmosphere.

"Climate change is the biggest threat wildlife will face this century," said the report released Wednesday by the National Wildlife Federation, an environmental group based in Reston, Va.

Though animals have adapted to natural climate variation since the beginning of time, the changes are happening much faster ...